Otago clinch two-wicket thriller against Auckland

Northern Districts bowled out Wellington for 133 inside 36 overs after setting them a target of 247 at their Round 4 State Shield match at Owen Delany Park in Taupo. Alun Evans, the Northern opener, made 79 and after he was run out with the score at 175 for 6, Ian Butler and Mark Jefferson added 56 runs for the seventh wicket. Jefferson, a left-arm orthodox bowler, also contributed in defending their total with a fantastic spell of 4-0-8-3 while Graeme Alridge, a right-arm fast-medium bowler, got 3 for 32 in his eight overs. Apart from Chris Nevin, the wicketkeeper, who made 32, no other Wellington batsman scored higher than 25.

Otago clinched an exciting Round 4 match against Auckland after they chased down Auckland's 202 with six balls remaining. They began well, getting to 150 for 4 in 37.3 overs - three of them going to Roneel Hira who ended with 4 for 31 - but lost the next four wickets in the space of 11 runs before Chris Gaffaney and Warren McSkimming got them home. McSkimming also got three Auckland wickets, including those of openers Paul Hitchcock for 7 and Lou Vincent for a duck. Reece Young batted well for Auckland with 68 and added 55 runs with Mills for the seventh wicket.

Canterbury managed an 11-run victory against Central Districts after restricting Central to 228 in 50 overs despite an innings of 95 by Peter Ingram at Christchurch. Batting first, the Canterbury openers, Iain Robertson and Michael Papps, got to 69 before Papps was caught behind off Brendon Diamanti for 37. But the rest of the top order chipped in, Shanan Stewart with 44, Craig McMillan with 31 and Chris Harris with 25. Brandon Hiini and Harris, Canterbury's right-arm medium bowlers, got identical match figures as they took three wickets each for 38 in their ten overs. Hiini broke the 94-run partnership between Ingram and Jacob Oram after which Central didn't recover enough to make the chase.